On November 11, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever capped Marvel's Phase 4. Wakanda Forever looks like a sure-fire hit that will win critical plaudits; however, even if the film proves successful, it may not be enough to paper over the lingering sense of disappointment fans had with Marvel's latest crop.
Coming off the success of Endgame, it is hard not to notice how inconsistent Marvel's follow-up to Phase 3 has been. While Phase 4 has Disney+ successes like Werewolf By Night and Loki, and cinematic hits like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Shang-Chi, Marvel has dropped more duds than in any previous phase.
Despite making such large breakthroughs in movie-making history, Marvel studios have been releasing films for over a decade. They have to find new ways to keep people engaged with their movies and shows, but so far, Phase 4 hasn't been hitting the mark.
1. POOR TREATMENT OF VFX ARTISTS
There have been recent allegations that Marvel has unrealistic expectations of VFX artists. They give these artists tight, unreasonable deadlines, making many of them refuse to work with the company again. Because of the time crunch, VFX artists don't get enough sleep. As a result, the quality of work can sometimes fail to meet audience expectations.
Even Taika Waititi has criticized the CGI in his film, Thor: Love And Thunder, unintentionally bringing more attention to this concerning matter. With more VFX artists stepping forward with their own horror stories from working with Marvel Studios, fans have grown more and more outraged.
2. FORCED EMOTIONAL ARCS, CAMEOS & WORLDBUILDING
Marvel Studios’ last two big-screen releases, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, have highlighted a prevalent issue in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Both Multiverse of Madness and Love and Thunder were praised for their stunning visuals, committed performances, and memorable use of music, like Doctor Strange’s musical note fight and Thor’s Guns ‘N’ Roses needle-drops. In fact, the MCU’s two most recent movies have been acclaimed by critics for just about every aspect except their writing.
These two less-than-stellar screenplays suffer from the same problem that could permeate throughout the rest of Phase Four. Multiverse of Madness was written by Loki creator Michael Waldron, while Love and Thunder was written by director Taika Waititi in collaboration with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Both scripts are let down by disjointed pacing, tonal inconsistency, and on-the-nose expository dialogue ignoring the crucial “show, don’t tell” rule of storytelling.
That’s because they don’t follow the compass of a single cohesive storyline. Instead, both movies took a wish list of ideas, characters, and plot elements and crammed them into a perfunctory narrative as opposed to coming up with a core story and building the ideas around that.
3. THE VILLAIN PROBLEM
Those post-credit scenes teasing Thanos trying on the Infinity Gauntlet and muttering villainous catchphrases to himself reminded viewers why they should stick around; when he finally arrived and pulverized the team, his inevitable defeat proved surprisingly satisfying, delivering on years of build-up.
In contrast, phase 4 seems to be meandering, with its central villain, Kang the Conqueror, making a single appearance in the Disney+ series Loki (and it wasn’t even him - it was a multiverse variant). While Kang already feels like he could be a far greater threat than Thanos, he hasn’t appeared since, and the glut of phase 4 content is busy introducing new characters, most of which are relatively obscure.
Shang-Chi proved a strong introduction to the titular character, while Loki and WandaVision managed to tell interesting standalone stories while contributing to the greater narrative. Otherwise, phase 4 feels largely forgettable, treading water and building up the Marvel mythos, without a Thanos-like threat hanging over the standalone adventures.
Indeed, Marvel rarely allows villains to return; their most interesting antagonists tend to be disposed of in their introductory movie - there are a few survivors, here and there, one of the most memorable being Vulture. But Vulture last showed up in a confusing Morbius post-credits scene that doesn’t even seem canon - who knows if he’ll show up again? Post-credits scenes aren’t teasing the arrival of Kang, but introducing new actors into the franchise, often playing fringe characters that are hard to get excited about. Starfox and Hercules just aren’t as intriguing as the old favorites; X-Men and Fantastic 4 are the next big names to enter the MCU, and the mere thought of them seems to be fueling much of the Marvel hype.
Hopefully, Kang starts to make more of an impact in the next few entries, because phase 4 needs a strong villain to focus on; without that threat, the momentum is starting to slow down.
4. DISJOINTED STORIES
So far, across seven movies and nine series on Disney Plus, audiences have traveled across time and the multiverse. On Earth-616 alone, we’ve traveled from New Jersey to Egypt and from Madripoor to London. The stories being told have been complex and challenging, exploring themes of grief, mental illness, and family trauma, just to name a few. (Who says “theme park” movies can’t be serious?) With each new title, there’s an intimacy to their stories, one where you feel like you’re really getting to know them and their sector of the world. What’s made Phase 4 so strong is also its weakness – while we’re getting to deepen new and old characters alike, the expansive universe these characters live in feels isolated and disjointed.
The titan-sized hole left by the finale of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame is too big to ignore. You can’t replicate this right off the bat; you have to work your way back up to that scale again. Based on what we’ve seen in Phase 4 so far, the stakes have ranged from small to the size of the multiverse, with no clear threat or villain they’re leading towards. Each character lives in their own bubble (or Hex, if you will) with very little overlap.
To take the Doctor Strange 2 example a step further, the Loki series directly impacts the multiverse after Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kills Kang variant, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), disrupting the Sacred Timeline into multiversal madness– yes, that was intentional. Her actions here are massive enough to break open the multiverse; shouldn’t there have been a reference to this in Multiverse of Madness? Plus, with Kang unleashed, he’s on the table to also wreak havoc across the MCU. We know Kang will be the primary villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Instead of introducing a deep-cut comics character played by an unannounced actor for shock value, Doctor Strange 2 could’ve used its mid-credits scene as an opportunity to overlap and connect these similar story threads together to advance the new saga.
5. SUPERHERO EXHAUSTION
Gone are the days of getting an MCU movie once every year. In 2021, four films and four television series were released. In 2022, there were three films, four television series, and some specials released by the end of the year. Getting so much content makes fans more critical about the films, with some making complaints that it feels like Marvel has chosen quantity over quality.
Of the 29 films rated on Rotten Tomatoes, three of Phase 4's movies are towards the bottom of the list. Black Widow received a 76%, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness got a 74%, Thor: Love And Thunder got a 65%, and Eternals came dead last with a 47%. This, combined with mixed audience reactions, means that Marvel Studios is letting some of its quality slip.
The MCU began with Iron Man back in 2008. For a decade, superheroes ruled the big screen, and not only did DC jump on the bandwagon, but other solo films and series were made. By now, there is so much cinematic superhero content available that fans have grown tired of the genre.
At the moment, fans are looking for something new. While the MCU is taking more risks in terms of stylization, particularly in movies like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness or Moon Knight, these still strongly feel like superhero movies.
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